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Worldwide, May 1st is traditionally a ‘Workers’ day – a day of Labor Solidarity, and a public holiday. It’s a day to celebrate and march in support of im/migrant rights. In protest against the corruption of the worldwide marketplace, which has led to illegal foreclosures, mass unemployment, low wages, high taxes and a penalization of all those who do not own the ‘99%’ of the world’s resources, and in solidarity with the im/migrant movements of May 1st, we decided to declare May 1st, 2012 a People’s General Strike. Instead of calling upon unionized Labor to make a specific demand (illegal under Taft-Hartley), we are calling upon the people of the world to take this day away from school and the workplace, so that their absence makes their displeasure with this corrupt system be known.

Occupations across the world have made similar calls for a General Strike, or day of economic disruption, in direct response to Occupy Los Angeles, or through a synchronicity of thought, a buzzing hive mind that feels the need to express solidarity with movements and people throughout the world who honor May Day and see this years expression of that as our next major step.

How can I participate?

If you are part of unionized labor, and your contract is up for negotiation, you can officially strike on May 1st. If you are not – call in sick. Take a holiday. Don’t show up to school. March with us, or join in one of the many events that will be taking place on May 1st, either in the day or in the evening. Block parties, rallies, protests, marches, family BBQ’s – this is a day when we take a stand against the way the system has enslaved us and burdened us with unmanageable debt, incredibly long working weeks, unfeasibly expensive healthcare — by taking a day for ourselves, being human again, spending time with our families and friends. Our bosses dictate everything to us — but not our holiday. The holiday of the working class, the 99%.

If you can’t participate on #M1GS, you can contribute in other ways. Spread the word. Poster your neighborhood. Help form Strike Committees in the workplace. Agitate...

What if they gave a General Strike Day of Action Against Corporatist World Hegemony and nobody came...?

Union Square, in Manhattan, is the site of a big May Day event, and the year after the Berlin Wall came down, I decided to go and check it out, just to see what the turnout would be like. I was glad that I went. There were, at most, 25 people who looked like they'd been part of the original cast of Battleship Potempkin, sitting on folding chairs and listening to a speaker who was doing his best to whip up the audience and telling them not to despair (He reminded me of Kevin Bacon doing traffic control in Animal House, screaming "All is well" as the crowd tramples him). One of the bolsheviks, an older woman who might have dated Trotsky, spotted me standing there and came up to tell me how happy she was to see an young person show up. I explained to her that I was there to gloat, and to see what kind of idiots still believed in that BS after the Eastern Europeans had thrown it off and were busy celebrating its demise.

Union Square, in Manhattan, is the site of a big May Day event, and the year after the Berlin Wall came down, I decided to go and check it out, just to see what the turnout would be like. I was glad that I went. There were, at most, 25 people who looked like they'd been part of the original cast of Battleship Potempkin, sitting on folding chairs and listening to a speaker who was doing his best to whip up the audience and telling them not to despair (He reminded me of Kevin Bacon doing traffic control in Animal House, screaming "All is well" as the crowd tramples him). One of the bolsheviks, an older woman who might have dated Trotsky, spotted me standing there and came up to tell me how happy she was to see an young person show up. I explained to her that I was there to gloat, and to see what kind of idiots still believed in that BS after the Eastern Europeans had thrown it off and were busy celebrating its demise.

I don't think that I made her May Day.

Ah yes, I got one of my all-time favorite souvenir gifts on a TDY trip to Germany around that time, a yellow T-shirt with a big Soviet red star on it, bearing the words "The Party is Over."

Ah yes, I got one of my all-time favorite souvenir gifts on a TDY trip to Germany around that time, a yellow T-shirt with a big Soviet red star on it, bearing the words "The Party is Over."

A buddy of mine sent me a pair of East German officer's dress boots, new in the box. I wore them for 18 years, and just bought a replacement pair (which are much harder to find now). I'll say this for them, they made a great jackboot.